Rachel's Updates en-US Sat, 26 Apr 2025 14:32:48 -0700 60 Rachel's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7420254114 Sat, 26 Apr 2025 14:32:48 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel added 'I Leave It Up to You']]> /review/show/7420254114 I Leave It Up to You by Jinwoo Chong Rachel gave 5 stars to I Leave It Up to You (Hardcover) by Jinwoo Chong
"I Leave It Up to You," a family drama by Jinwoo Chong, is a pandemic novel with a new twist. Here, a gay man who had distanced himself from his Korean immigrant family wakes up from a two-year coma to find his old life is gone. His fiancé has moved on. His job as a copywriter and apartment in Manhattan? Gone. The reader is along for the ride as Jack Jr. struggles to figure out why everyone's wearing masks and what's going on with the sushi restaurant his family runs in Fort Lee, N.J. Will he find a way to rebuild his independent life or will he slide back into the one he left behind in a rebellious huff in his late teens? Jack Jr. makes a sympathetic main character, one who's open about his flaws and uncertainties as well as his wounded heart. I could see the story as the basis for a TV series, especially given Chong's evocative writing about the restaurant and the work that goes into stocking it with trips to the fish market.

Note: I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. ]]> Review6970630999 Sat, 26 Apr 2025 13:58:33 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel added 'Heartwood']]> /review/show/6970630999 Heartwood by Amity Gaige Rachel gave 5 stars to Heartwood (Hardcover) by Amity Gaige
I gulped down "Heartwood," a new thriller by Amity Gaige, in just a few days. The story follows the search for a nurse who goes missing while hiking the Appalachian Trail. But the book is much more than an urgent sweep through the Maine woods. Gaige gives us the story from multiple vantage points, flipping from the lost hiker herself to a friend she made on the trail and from the woman heading up the search to persnickety old lady following the story online. Lyrical passages in which the prose lingers on the leaves of a tree take nothing away from the sections in which search-and-rescue teams comb the woods on foot and from the air. Gaige keeps the narrative moving along at a good pace while somehow giving the reader time to get to know Valerie and her reasons for embarking on this strenuous hike as well as Bev and her reasons for joining the Maine Warden Service. Highly recommended.

Note: I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. ]]> ReadStatus9352869897 Fri, 25 Apr 2025 19:35:23 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel started reading 'Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection']]> /review/show/7416892929 Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green Rachel started reading Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green
]]> ReadStatus9344257583 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 13:56:19 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel wants to read 'The Glassmaker']]> /review/show/7513180843 The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier Rachel wants to read The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier
]]> Rating850402288 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 13:55:40 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel Coker liked a review]]> /
Rachel liked Rachel's review of The Glassmaker:
The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier
"I was debating four or five stars for this work, but the last section pushed it to five. It has a unusual premise: centuries pass but the main characters only age decades. It works because you come to care for them and also learn about crafts men and women's love of their craft. "
]]> ReadStatus9338752870 Tue, 22 Apr 2025 07:16:15 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel started reading 'Heartwood']]> /review/show/6970630999 Heartwood by Amity Gaige Rachel started reading Heartwood by Amity Gaige
]]> Review7000054184 Fri, 11 Apr 2025 05:52:22 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel added 'Orbital']]> /review/show/7000054184 Orbital by Samantha Harvey Rachel gave 5 stars to Orbital (Hardcover) by Samantha Harvey
What a strange and gorgeous little gem of a book! Almost nothing happens as six astronauts aboard the International Space Station zip around in low Earth orbit. At the same time, novelist Samantha Harvey introduces brief meditations on subjects ranging from grief and ambition to weather and food. Harvey's beautiful prose is full of geographic and artistic detail that brings you inside the astronauts' thoughts. Just lovely! ]]> ReadStatus9296430443 Fri, 11 Apr 2025 05:48:24 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel started reading 'I Leave It Up to You']]> /review/show/7420254114 I Leave It Up to You by Jinwoo Chong Rachel started reading I Leave It Up to You by Jinwoo Chong
]]> ReadStatus9271990569 Fri, 04 Apr 2025 18:49:46 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel wants to read 'The Easter Parade']]> /review/show/7463141170 The Easter Parade by Richard Yates Rachel wants to read The Easter Parade by Richard Yates
]]> ReadStatus9270707967 Fri, 04 Apr 2025 11:29:51 -0700 <![CDATA[Rachel started reading 'Orbital']]> /review/show/7000054184 Orbital by Samantha Harvey Rachel started reading Orbital by Samantha Harvey
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